According to a Department of Defense news release,
Bolar is the son of Anne and Vernon Adkins of Montgomery and Gordon and
Elly Bolar of Kalamazoo, Mich. In addition to his parents, Bolar is survived
by his sister, Emma, 19, who graduated from St. James School in Montgomery
and now attends the University of Alabama.

Bolar graduated as valedictorian of Canterbury
High School in 2002.

The Adkins family declined to be interviewed,
but family friend Bob Thurber spoke on their behalf. Thurber, who works
with Anne Adkins at Raycom Media, has known the family for about 10 years.
He spoke with Bolar when he was home between his tours of duty.

"He told me he was going house-to-house in
search of insurgents," Thurber said. "I think he knew what the dangers
were."

The family was notified of Bolar's death about
9:30 p.m. Thursday by casualty assistance officers and a chaplain.

"A lot of people are suffering these days because
of what is going on over there," Thurber said. "Annie lived in fear that
this day would come."

Funeral arrangements are pending the return
of Bolar's body to the United States.
7 May 2007:

The Army says an Alabama soldier based at Fort
Richardson, Alaska, died Thursday in Iraq.

24-year-old Specialist Matthew T. Bolar of
Montgomery died of wounds received from an improvised explosive device
detonated near his vehicle in Baghdad.

Bolar graduated at the top his class at Canterbury
High School in 2002. The infantryman joined the Army in September 2004
and was assigned to Fort Richardson in November 2005.

Funeral arrangements are pending. The family
said Bolar will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington,
DC.

Alabama Soldier Volunteered For Return To
BaghdadMother Says Playful Son Felt Called After
9/11By Mark BermanCourtesy of the Washington PostThursday, May 17, 2007

After spending nearly a year in Iraq, Army
Specialist Matthew T. Bolar was home for only two months before he volunteered
for a second tour.

And just two months after returning to Iraq,
he was killed when an improvised explosive device detonated near his unit
during combat. Two other soldiers were seriously injured in the May 3 explosion
in Baghdad.

Brigadier
General Charles Anderson presents a ceremonial flag to Gordon Bolar, father
of Specialist Matthew
T. Bolar, who died in an explosion in Baghdad. At center is Matthew's sister,
Emma Adkins.

With a gray sky blocking out the mid-afternoon
sun, more than three dozen mourners assembled at Arlington National Cemetery
yesterday to honor Bolar. He was the 334th member of the military killed
in Iraq or Afghanistan to be buried at Arlington.

Bolar, who was born in Baton Rouge, is survived
by his mother and stepfather, Anne and Vernon Adkins of Montgomery; his
father and stepmother, Gordon and Elly Bolar of Kalamazoo, Michigan; and
a younger sister, Emma.

In an earlier interview, Anne Adkins recalled
her son's fun-loving nature. She spoke of a mischievous and independent
child whose favorite television station was the Military Channel, and of
a boy who liked historical documentaries and military-themed toys.

"He was always very patriotic," she said. "After
9/11, he really wanted to go into the armed forces. He felt like he was
called."

In 2002, Bolar graduated as valedictorian from
Canterbury High School in Montgomery. He wanted to enlist, but his mother
("like a mom," she said) persuaded him to try college. He attended Auburn
University's campus in Montgomery for a year and a half and talked about
majoring in military history. But when he turned 21 in 2004, he decided
it was time to follow his heart.

His first tour in Iraq lasted from February
to December 2006 and included a three-month extension that moved him from
Mosul to Baghdad.

"I asked him, 'Is this what you want to do?
Is this what you feel like you have to do?' " said Vernon Adkins, Bolar's
stepfather of 21 years. "And he said, 'I'm going to do it because they're
asking the single guys, and I figured I'd go for somebody who's got kids.
Somebody will do this for me in the future.' So I guess if he hadn't gone,
maybe some dad would have met that IED.

"He liked making everybody laugh, but when
it came down to it, especially these past couple of years, when he found
what he loved doing in the Army, things really changed for him, and we're
just so proud of him."

Bolar spent most of the time between deployments
at home -- except for a January trip to Chicago, where he joined his father,
Gordon Bolar, to watch his beloved New Orleans Saints play the Chicago
Bears in the NFC championship game.

Vernon and Anne Adkins got to see him one last
time toward the end of February, just before he returned to Iraq.

Anne Adkins was making cookies to send to Bolar
the night she found out he had died. So she decided, with help from the
community, to put together a "cookie brigade," which sent about 1,500 cookies
to Bolar's unit in Iraq.

Yesterday, as the family rose to lead mourners
away from the grave, Vernon and Emma Adkins kissed their hands and touched
his silver coffin in a final goodbye.

21 March 2008:

Montgomery, Alabama -- The last time we saw
and heard from Anne Adkins was back in November at a memorial dedication
that honored the Alabamians who gave everything they had in the fight against
terror.

"I miss and love our son so much," Anne Adkins
said at the time.

Today, a rainy day in Montgomery marked the
5th anniversary of the war in Iraq and the gloom still pierces Adkins'
heart.

"My heart is broken. My heart will always be
on my son," Adkins said.

It is also on the son of another family. Adkins
found out last Friday that Matthew Bolar's friend, William O' Bryan of
Texas, died in Iraq, victim of a suicide bomber.

"3 weeks to go," Adkins said.

3 weeks to go before O'Bryan could get out
and go home. We don't know how O'Bryan's family feels about the war that's
now entering its 6th year. We do know Anne Adkins expresses no regrets
about her son's decision to join the military. In fact, she recalls a conversation
she had with Matthew when the family visited ground zero in New York one
Christmas.

"He looked over at me and I'll never forget
this. He said, 'Mom, there's really some things worth dying for like family
and country,' Adkins said.

The war clearly has been a polarizing issue
for so many Americans, but not necessarily for Anne Adkins who lost her
only son, a young man who volunteered to go back to war for a second tour.
Not long after a road bomb took Matthew Bolar's life. He was 24.

"If that's good enough for him and there are
things worth dying for.. that's good enough for me," Adkins said.

The family buried Matthew Bolar at Arlington
National Cemetery last May.

Back in Montgomery Anne Adkins says work and
the support of co-workers have been a saving grace yet she will forever
be reminded that scourge of war reduced her own family from 4 down to 3.

Specialist Matthew Bolar would have turned
25 this summer. Adkins says she plans to spend his birthday at his grave
at Arlington.

An
Army honor guard carry the remains of Army Corporal Matthew T. Bolar during
funeral services at Arlington
National Cemetery Wednesday, May 16, 2007

An
Army honor guard hold the remains of Army Corporal Matthew T. Bolar during
funeral services at Arlington National Cemetery

Emma
Adkins touches the casket of her brother, Army Corporal Matthew T. Bolar,
during funeral services
at Arlington National Cemetery Wednesday, May 16, 2007